Elders Express 0622

June 21, 2015

Almost every day we learn about new technologies.

Some futurists say having our lives guided and served by artificial intelligence could become the best or worst thing that could happen to humans, and some speculate that technologies like robotics could take over the world in 50 to 100 years.

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This whole idea of machines becoming smarter than humans is scary to some of us. In the future, will we all become so dependent upon technology that we can no longer think for ourselves?

Actually, some of that future has already arrived.

Why bother to remember phone numbers of frequently called people when the phone does that for you?

Why bother to look up destinations on a map when your GPS will tell you how to get anywhere — if you can figure out how to program it? Using GPS doubles as guide and entertainment in my family. The GPS voice that guides one of our cars keeps us laughing with “eh-LAH-moh” (Alamo), “RYE-verse” (rivers), and “pli-ZAHN-ton” (Pleasanton).

It’s hard to imagine that when my eldest child was in school the concern was slide rules. As in, if students used slide rules in math classes, they might not learn to use their minds to figure out problems.

Later, using calculators was considered detrimental to acquiring math skills.

Now, mini-calculators are on keychains, checkbooks and in all sorts of hand-held electronics.

When computers first came on the scene, some writers vowed to cling to their pencils and yellow legal pads or manual typewriters fearing technology would destroy creativity.

Now, elementary school students key in their stories and help grandparents with techno-traumas, if we call them on their cell phones.

I don’t think many of us dreamed that one day, the new-fangled, remote-controlled toy airplanes our kids preferred to old-timey kites would evolve into drones with almost unlimited potential.

Now, it’s common for science students to construct robots in class, something we used to see only in sci-fi movies.

In fiction, robots usually become villains whose artificial intelligence enables them to turn against their human creators, then become violent and dominate the world. Real-life robotics provide such diverse benefits to humans as limbs for disabled folks and robotic floor cleaners.

The question is: How much can we expect robotic servants to do for us?

If robots can do all of our mental and physical chores, will we humans, as a result of having nothing to do, become unable to do anything for ourselves?

And what will we do with all of that extra time? How many golf balls can one hit? How many bridge hands can one play? How many socks with matching scarves can one knit?